You must bring light and laughter with you when you are at your clinic.
You would be hard pressed to do the same at mine.
The clinic is overwhelmed and understaffed at least 6 new patients arriving every day for New Patient Chat, that’s just on the week I’m there.
The waiting room is sometimes standing room only, in spite of the ruling that one can only have one person as a company that’s often ignored and whole families sometimes turn up with prospective patients.
The waiting room is crowded with pre Chemo patients, ones awaiting treatment and new patients to be interviewed.
Every so often a patient I’ve got to know is missing, the reason is obvious.
A farmer I got to know on the same medication which has stopped working has now been given 6 months to live😱
When I got to know him in January 2015 he was robust and upright, now he’s just a shadow of his former self.
He told me this when he and his lovely wife were in the clinic two weeks ago.
It’s not normally allowed to go into the treatment room to talk to a patient but as I know the Matron in charge a blind eye is turned.
It made my skin crawl when he told me, he has now developed AML and there’s nothing more they can do for him.
It really unsettled me seeing him like this and is a fearful reminder to me that I’m going to be in the same position as he is sooner or later.
There is a bell in the corridor just outside the clinic on a plaque with a poem invitation for patients who have completed their treatment to ring it three times, good for them I’m sure.
I’ll never get to ring that bell!!!
Best wishes
Anthony
Hi Erica, we are two peas in a pod, I will talk to anyone.
Hi blackhat, I think my clinic is the ritz compared to yours, that sounds like grand central station ! The bigger the hospital the worse it seems to be, when I was doing my dialysis at a major teaching hospital it was a nightmare, now I am at my local unit it is height of luxury in comparison. For me the environment in which I receive my treatment is very important as if it is poor it just adds unnecessary stress.
Best wishes
Alfie
TKent and Canterbury Hospital is not particularly large, in fact the powers that be are running it into the ground.
A&E, Critical Care Unit, Maternity, Heart and Stroke Units All transferred to either Margate or Ashford Plus 42 junior doctors as there are not enough consultants to train them.
I wrote to the chairman of governors to protest about CCU and doctor transfer, no reply of course.
These transfers were supposed to be for 6 months a year and a half ago. Bullshit!!
I suggested that if Ashford had that many consultants transfer some to Canterbury not send 42 doctors there.
The transfers of doctors and closure of CCU were said to be in the interest of patients safety!!
I’ve witnessed 3 people collapsing with chest pains whilst awaiting chemo. An ambulance has to be called to ferry them to a Hospital some miles away, how ludicrous is that. If the CCU was still on-site they could be there and treated in 5 mins, the same goes for stroke victims.
This must be happening all over the hospital.
The chemotherapy clinic has 2 wards, one with 14 chairs, the other with 6 these are used for patients with treatments longer than 4 hours.
Often there are not enough nurses to cover both wards so everyone treated is lumped into the 14 chairs. Sometimes there can be 90 mins delays.
In 2015/6 Agency Nurses were brought in to cover holidays and sickness but that doesn’t happen anymore.
I’m very fortunate that my treatment only takes 30mins sometimes less, it’s made onsite and has a short shelf life.
I know the approximate time it arrives in the clinic, but sometimes there isn’t a nurse available to give it to me.
It’s then put in the refrigerator until one becomes available. Ridiculously most of them have the lunch break at the same time, they are supposed to be staggered but that doesn’t always happen.
When my medication is taken out of the fridge there is only 20 mins before it’s unusable.
I have to be on the ball then not to be overlooked so I do make a nuisance of myself, a tense time for me.
I can’t fault the nurses but I’m very much aware that continued pressure can result in my treatment being forgotten, I have to make **** sure it’s not.
I feel drained by day 5, not by the treatment but the tension I endure making sure I get it in time.
About 3 years ago they closed the Ashford Chemo Unit for repairs for a year and transferred all their patients to the Canterbury Clinics. They’ve all returned now but it was absolute chaos when they were at Canterbury, their Matron was not only disorganised but downright bone idle!! An extremely unpleasant woman who I had several run ins with.
I envy you Alfie not having to have to endure this torture every month, it makes me angry just writing about it.
Best wishes
Anthony
Dear blackhat, it sounds like a total shambles. I wish I could say I’m shocked but have been on the receiving end of a similar situation, thats why I got my treatment transferred to my current clinic. I sometimes feel like I’m fighting the system rather than the cancer. I think things need to change for all blood cancer patients wherever they are in the country. I Believe it’s called patient centred care ?
Best wishes Alfie
I agree with you Alfie.
After reading some of the contributions to this forum my situation is not the worst.
Any change, if at all will be a long time coming.
It’s all about money.
In 2012 there was only one hospital in the UK that was in deficit, now they all are.
All the cut backs are made at the sharp end.
The NHS is over managed and understaffed.
No cut backs in admin staff, quite the opposite in fact.
Wastage is huge because of management incompetence.
A couple of years ago my meds were dumped because they had expired before I was to be treated the nurse said “ you’d be amazed how much medication is binned”
That’s one day in one clinic, it’s very probably the case in every hospital in the country.
The board of governors of the trust where I am has 15 members, only 1 doctor amongst them. The chair of this gang earns £400.000pa.
The NHS quietly wrote off a useless IT system to the tune of £11 billion, enough to build 9 hospitals, and goodness knows how many nurses could be employed with this sum.
Bursaries for nurses have been withdrawn.
How can you encourage nurses when they will be saddled with a £50.000 loan debt.
NICE has withdrawn several cancer drugs to prolong life because they are not cost effective!!
People are living longer and many are developing cancer in their later years.
I foresee a future when older cancer patients will be denied treatment because of the cost.
A horrifying prospect, it’s already happening though.
Whatever political party governs us are totally out of touch with the very people that put them in power, you don’t see your MP in a NHS hospital.
You never will either they all can afford private healthcare.
Good job I’ve still got a sense of humour, at least I’m not German 
Dear blackhat
I think you raise some interesting points. I think the fundamental issue with healthcare is that you cannot control demand, it has been attempted in the past as a way of saving money but ultimately it is futile. The key as you say is to provide the services people need in a cost efficient way without compromising patient care. At this point I don’t think we are achieving this, there are too many legacy issues in the NHS surrounding IT systems, out of date facilities, lack off the right staff for the right specialties. I see the NHS as an out of control beast that currently cannot be tamed but only corralled. I don’t have the answers but it’s important when you are engaging with the system you see the reality of environment you are operating in.
I think we both need to get down to speakers corner in Hyde park and vent our spleens 
Alfie
Well said Alfie,
It’s frustrating being in a situation knowing what’s wrong and being unable to make any difference.
I feel like Don Quixote tilting at windmills.
Government tinkering has ruined the education system and all the utility industries too😱
As Private Fraser in Dads Army would say “we’re all doomed”
Best wishes
Anthony 